Why Have Children?
by animeyaoilover159
Summary: Spencer ponders on why people want children.


_**AUTHOR'S**_ **_NOTE:_**_So this is the first part of a 100 Theme Writing Prompt. I'll be alternating between themes with _**ClumsyOwl. **_I obviously don't own Criminal Minds nor the shows characters, but the story is mine!_

**Birth**

Spencer often wondered about the complexities of birth. The more he thought about it, the less he could fathom why one would have a child. The birthing/pregnancy process alone gave countless reasons not to. Morning sickness, sleep deprivation, restricted sleep positions, contractions, c-section possibilities, strange cravings. There were countless reasons to not want to have a child. This didn't even include all of the burdens after having the child. Financial responsibilities, messes, stress, the pre-teen to teen phase. Even with all of those reasons, people still wanted have children. It perplexed Spencer.

Scientifically he understood it...children were technically a necessity to continue on the human species, but even with that reasoning the earth was currently over populated. So there was no true reason to have children. JJ's pregnancy had triggered a question in Spencer's mind that seemingly had no logical answer. She was happier than she'd ever been despite experiencing a handful of the complications that he listed out. Why?

Since he couldn't find an answer, Spencer brought his question to his boyfriend the next day at work.

"Why do people want to have children?" Derek gave Reid a lopsided grin. Derek couldn't explain it exactly, but he would try his best.

"Because your house is warmer when you have kids around, there's always someone there to greet you after a long day, and they're cute!" Derek replied.

Spencer thought Derek was so sweet when he talked about family, but it still didn't answer the question. All of the things that Derek listed out could be fulfilled by a romantic partner in Spencer's mind. Spencer couldn't empathize with what Derek was trying to explain, however; he figured he would spare his boyfriend crushed hopes by avoiding listing out all the reasons not the have children. He gave his boyfriend a peck on the cheek and walked back to his desk.

The next day JJ ironically asked Spencer to babysit Henry for the weekend. It had been forever since she and Will spent alone time together, and it was much overdue. Currently Henry was two months old, and Spencer did not want to watch him, especially with his reservations against children. Before he could protest, he got guilted into watching Henry when JJ pulled the godfather card. Spencer finally agreed after JJ told him that Derek could also come over and stay the weekend. His fate was sealed.

Friday arrived faster than Spencer would've liked. He dreaded being stuck with a wailing child all weekend. After work he headed to his apartment to pick up supplies for the weekend. He arrived at JJ's house around 6pm and rang the doorbell. She answered the door, greeted Spencer, and gave him a slight hug.

"Where's Derek?" JJ asked.

"Oh. He'll be arriving late. He decided to stay behind for a little while to help Hotch with some paper work. Plus he'll have to stop by his apartment to get his stuff for this weekend, so he will most likely arrive at 8 or so." JJ let out a small laugh.

"Okay Spencer. So you'll need to feed Henry in an hour or whenever he starts to get fussy. You warm the bottle in the fridge for 30 seconds and make sure to test a drop of the milk on your wrist to see if it is too hot. Burp him mid way and at the end. A half hour after feeding Henry you can put him to sleep. He shouldn't need to be fed too much during the night. He's been sleeping for about six hours each night, so you won't need to feed him for awhile. Check his diaper, the wipes and diapers are in the second drawer of his changing table in his room. The monitors are all set up, so you'll just need to turn both the monitor and the viewer on when you put him down in his crib. We'll be back sometime in the afternoon tomorrow. There should be enough bottles to last til then. Call me if you need anything. Thanks Spencer." She gave him another hug and headed out to the car. Will came down the stairs with Henry in tow. He handed his baby boy to Spencer and left to join JJ in the car. Spencer cradled Henry in his arms, luckily the little bundle didn't fuss. Spencer looked at the clock, he had about two hours left until Derek showed up.

Spencer placed the little boy on the playmat JJ had set out, and sat at the end of the toy. Spencer busied himself by having small talk with Henry. He had to admit that the infant's cooing was quite charming. He rubbed Henry's cheek with his forefinger. It was cute how the child's head would follow Spencer's touches. An hour into their playing, Henry started getting fussy. Spencer picked the infant up, but Henry continued crying. Spencer then remembered that Henry was most likely hungry. He heated the milk and fed the baby. Henry was so sleepy by the end of the bottle that he didn't make a sound when Spencer burped him for the last time.

Spencer went upstairs to change Henry's diaper. He then put the sleepy baby in the crib, but Henry began to wail. Spencer picked the baby up. Maybe he would have to rock Henry to sleep like the countless child care books Spencer had read said to. He took the infant back down stairs and turned the TV on. He sat down and rocked Henry back and forth while watching the show.

Just as Henry was about to fall asleep, the doorbell rang. Spencer cursed under his breath. He got up and looked in the peephole only to see that his boyfriend had arrived. He quickly opened the door and gave Derek a quick kiss. Derek gently smiled at the sight of his beautiful boyfriend holding an adorable baby.

"He...was just about to fall asleep…" Spencer sighed.

"Sorry pretty boy" Derek apologized.

"We were watching the history channel, you're welcome to join us,"Spencer responded.

They headed to the living room couch. Derek settled in the corner of the couch. Spencer snuggled up to his boyfriend. Henry's head rested in the crook of Spencer's arm which was resting on Derek's stomach. Derek adoringly stroked the top of Henry's head. Spencer stared at his lover's face. He couldn't help smiling at the warm, loving expression on his boyfriend's face.

Then it all clicked.

_It was moments like this that made all the troubles of birth worth it._


End file.
